Assets

Assets

Lin Wen first went to the Finance Department. It was already nine at night, yet its lights were still on.

Lin Wen did not disturb them. He merely quietly activated [Aura Reading] and peered through a crack in the door.

They were busy at work inside. Fifteen people in all, including the director and deputy director, were still continuously tallying the assets. On a square table not far from them, a large stack of cash lay neatly arranged, gleaming an alluring gold beneath the lights. It complemented the piles of gold beside it, forming waves of wealth.

What they were currently counting were all kinds of jewelry, diamonds, and valuables.

These were treasures Zhang Fatty had brought out to settle his debt because Lin Wen's grand promises had completely clogged his wits, and he had not brought enough of the fifteen million in cash. The six-carat sapphire in Director Lei's hand was the payment he had given Fang Weiwei for a prostitute.

This also caused the Finance Department immense trouble in appraising them. They kept verifying the jewelry's authenticity, purity, quality, and flaws, while digging up heaps of reference materials to estimate their value as accurately as possible.

The entire Finance Department was filled with sighs, hair-pulling, page-flipping, complaints, and incredulous exclamations.

In Lin Wen's eyes, most of their auras were pale yellow mixed with green and white, with the occasional trace of dark brown or black drifting through them.

According to the spell's description, these should all be normal manifestations. They had occasional greed, but it was suppressed by duty, professional ethics, and the law. Director Lei's aura was the most unusual: a bluish-white hexagonal shape, solid and nearly motionless, its surface covered in aura like gray cracks.

This probably indicated that Director Lei was rigid in his thinking, trustworthy in his professional ethics, but had long been trapped in a state of mental gloom.

Lin Wen could not make out anything more. He was not a professional aura reader, and the spell's detailed explanations were simply too thick. Lin Wen had only read the outline and the basic material before temporarily giving up on the dozen or so volumes afterward, each as thick as an Oxford dictionary.

Besides, apart from those that were entirely black, a person's aura was not fixed and could not be seen through at a glance. Knowing the general picture was enough.

From the looks of it, Director Lei should be trustworthy for the time being. There was no need to worry about anyone lining their own pockets.

Just as he was thinking this, he accidentally nudged the door.

With a creak, the people in the Finance Department immediately spotted Prefect Lin at the door.

Old Xie, the deputy director, instantly beamed. He shoved Director Lei behind him, snatched up the account book, and hurried over to Prefect Lin at a jog.

Lin Wen did not want to waste the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart at this moment, so he cut him off at once. "How much have you counted so far?"

Old Xie replied, "Thanks to Prefect's wise leadership, we have confirmed assets worth 11.06 million. The remaining assets should be valued at roughly 5.5 to 6 million."

Lin Wen asked in surprise, "Why is there even more?"

Old Xie smiled. "It is all thanks to Prefect's great fortune! Jewelry and diamonds have the most variable appraisals. Gold is relatively stable, though it fluctuates too. But those differences are minor—the main thing is that Boscilda Sapphire. The Federation's Saintess may offer a high price to purchase it."

Lin Wen had long since turned a blind eye to the weirdness of this world. Saintess, witch—whatever. Neither could cast forbidden spells, so they were useless as tits on a bull.

There was only one thing he cared about now. "Is it troublesome to liquidate? Can the funds be recovered quickly?"

Director Lei, standing beside them, had long been unable to swallow his words. "Prefect, the Empire absolutely cannot treat luxury goods—"

Old Xie immediately shoved Director Lei aside with his backside and said with a fawning grin, "This fellow has something wrong with his brain. Got kicked by a donkey as a child. Please don't take him to heart, Prefect Lin."

Lin Wen ignored him. "Hurry up and liquidate them. Recover the funds as soon as possible, preferably without any losses. This is the disaster victims' money."

Old Xie slapped his chest. "Prefect Lin understands righteousness and loves the people as his own children—this is the blessing of the countless citizens of Long Mountain Commandery! Please rest assured, Prefect Lin! I will not fail the trust you have placed in me."

This deputy director disgusted Lin Wen to no end. He had originally wanted to say a few more words, but it felt as though grease had clogged his wits, and the words reached his lips only to refuse to come out.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, Director Lei jumped out again. "That can't be done. Jewelry and other valuables are not necessities. If you want to sell them quickly, you must sell them cheaply. If you want a high price, you must sell them slowly."

Old Xie was so furious smoke practically poured from his ears. After all his repeated warnings, he still could not hold back this stubborn mule. He grabbed Old Lei by the collar and, disregarding Prefect Lin's presence, roared, "If you can't speak, can't you shut your mouth? Do I need you to teach me how to do my job? How do you know it can't be fast and good at the same time?"

Old Lei argued back, "If you want to sell fast, it becomes a buyer's market, and they'll dare to force down the price!"

Old Xie smacked his lips. "I'll buy your ancestors and squeeze your grandpa!"

Fed up beyond measure, Lin Wen said, "Then do it quickly. Get the money in before the cash runs out. Sell however much you can!" With that, he turned and left, ignoring the clanging sounds of the scuffle behind him.

Returning to the prefectural office, he found the home address and landline number of Yuan Zhimen, the deputy director of the General Office. One phone call dragged him out of bed. Lin Wen instructed him to immediately send a telegram to the Governor's Office, requesting that the construction teams of the Seventh Construction Corps turn back and resume work. Long Mountain Commandery had money to pay their project fees now.

After studying the reconstruction blueprints for a while longer, he had made up his mind. Without any hesitation, Lin Wen leaned back in the prefect's large chair and went straight to sleep.

Ever since becoming prefect, he had slept there every night.

At the same time, far away in Pale Sun Capital, Governor Sheng Huaixuan still had not gone to bed. He sat in his chair, hunched over, taking puff after puff of his cigarette, burying himself in clouds of bluish smoke as he remained silent.

At this moment, the governor no longer resembled a high official holding great power. He looked more like an old farmer worried about this year's harvest.

"Huaixuan." A middle-aged woman pushed open the door and entered. "Stop worrying about the disaster relief funds. You're not the Emperor. If Imperial Headquarters won't allocate them to you, are you going to raise an army and seize them?"

Sheng Huaixuan stubbed out one cigarette and lit another.

Seeing his tightly furrowed brow, the middle-aged woman smiled. "You really were thinking that? Whether you go or not, come drink the ginseng soup first. Your health comes first."

Sheng Huaixuan took a sip of the ginseng soup, and his brow relaxed slightly. "Huai Xiu, what do you think about me mobilizing the Azure Army?"

The middle-aged woman, Huai Xiu, thought for a moment. "Do you want to dig out Old Liu's roots, or intercept the silver of those lords on Capitol Hill?"

Sheng Huaixuan shook his head. "I want to intercept the gold Dragon Province hands over to Imperial Headquarters."

Huai Xiu was startled. "His Majesty won't be able to cover this up."

Sheng Huaixuan smiled. "Long Xingjun will help me cover it up."

"Li Long..." Huai Xiu choked on the name, but still did not dare call the Emperor by his given name. Softly, she said, "His Majesty is under immense pressure too. How about you don't do this? You've been far too aggressive lately. Several Great Elders are dissatisfied with you."

"There's no helping it."

Sheng Huaixuan shook his head.

"They are choking me like this because they want me dead. This flood has given them an excuse and ammunition to attack me with. The reforms in East Qin Province absolutely cannot be halted."

Huai Xiu still wanted to persuade him. "But..."

Sheng Huaixuan drained the ginseng soup in one gulp. "Huai Xiu, you don't understand. As long as nothing goes wrong within me, I'll stand as solid as a fortress. But if I collapse from within, then forget a typhoon like this—even a single little finger could knock me down."

The weakness was only temporary. Vigorous strength returned to the Governor-General's body. He opened the documents and said, "There's only one thing I'm worried about now: that kid in Long Mountain Commandery won't be able to withstand the pressure. If they crush him, I'll have an opening."

Huai Xiu gently massaged his shoulders. "Why did you suddenly think of giving him regional command authority?"

Remembering the scene from back then, Sheng Huaixuan smiled. "Huai Xiu, you don't know that kid. Before meeting him, just looking at his record—descended from heroes, acting like a hero—I had great expectations for him."

"But when he arrived, guess what I saw?"

Huai Xiu loved conversations like this. They reminded her of when they were young. Playing along, she said, "What did you see?"

"I saw an old hand at officialdom—watertight in every respect, his mouth full of flattery, smooth and sly. Do you know how I felt then?"

Huai Xiu thought for a moment. "Like you'd been tricked. You thought he'd gotten his position through bootlicking and fawning, and that he wasn't a hero at all."

"Exactly! I wanted to send him away as quickly as possible and replace him a few months later. But then that kid gave me a surprise. One after another, he asked me for money, preferential resource support, tax-exemption authority with merged tax rebates, free-trade authority, designation as a key area in the Empire's main development plan, and a new finance pilot program—those six things. Think about it carefully."

Huai Xiu had always been capable. After thinking it over carefully, she could not help exclaiming, "These are all what Long Mountain Commandery needs most. He only raised these five points and none of the Empire's other policies, which proves he had carefully studied Long Mountain Commandery's development. If it were me, to identify those five points so precisely, I'd need to conduct in-depth research in Long Mountain Commandery for at least a year. He definitely isn't some court jester who survives by bootlicking."

"Exactly." Sheng Huaixuan said with a smile, "Unfortunately, I couldn't agree to any of those five points. Then the kid's face went green. He thought that after flattering me for a while, I'd fall into his trap. Too young."

"Isn't that so?" Huai Xiu leaned against his back, her voice soft and gentle. "If you agreed to any one of them, it would become a heavy burden on you. Given the current situation, you couldn't get them in the first place."

"Then, just when I thought he was out of options, he suddenly asked me for regional command authority."

"Can you understand it? That all-or-nothing attitude—that air of, 'I have nothing, but if only you let me display my talents, I can trade it for a patch of blue sky.'"

Huai Xiu smiled. "And then your heart was moved. I know you—you like people like that."

"Just like you."

"Just like me."

They spoke at the same time, then looked at each other and smiled.

"But now, I regret it somewhat. My enemies can't do anything to me, but they may turn around and attack that kid. He's still young. He doesn't understand how cruel the Empire's internal struggles are. I'm worried they may crush him."

"And right now, I'm stretched too thin to help him directly. Long Mountain Commandery is also in a dangerous situation. Post-disaster reconstruction is a hole that must be filled, or there'll be major chaos. Secretary Cheng said there are also many people within Long Mountain Commandery who oppose him."

"His days must be very hard right now."